Kagoule - Photo by Stephanie Webb
Kagoule waste no time in deafening the crowd with ear splitting instruments filling the room with an undeniably enduring sound that won’t leave your memory for weeks. Monarchy, with that signature beat reverberating around the room, and melodic, ringing riffs that contort into an all-out attack, all joining up with the intense and overpowering drones from the bass to create a faultless assault that causes the floor to literally shake and vibrate as if it may cave in at any second.
Each member of Kagoule has developed their sound into something unique; at both Cai and Lucy’s feet are pedalboards filled with effects enabling them to fluctuate impulsively between the chiming delay of Made of Concrete all the way to the dirty crunches of Adjust the Way, both of these songs forcing the crowd into jumping, shouting and head banging.
The screams of bassist Lucy throughout the set contribute to the heaviness, while the intimacy of the venue enhances the experience with every person here compelled to be cornered by the speakers. Drummer Lawrence is as tight as ever, with effortless timing in Glue, and not a beat is slipped throughout their whole set. Kagoule are a band whose songs make it all too easy to slip into, but much harder to get away from.
Bad Breeding - Photo by Stephanie Webb
Stevenage’s Bad Breeding explode on to the stage, with a topless guitarist and a vocalist who spends most of his time in the crowd taking his mic with him. Bad Breeding have a completely different atmosphere to Kagoule, but fit alongside perfectly. Their music smashes into the room with the shouts and screams of the vocalist, who shows intensity and anger in his deliverance, howling lyrics such as "living in a town where nothing really happens, except nothingness itself" (Age of Nothing), as he writhes around on the floor.
New single Burn This Flag begins and the the dirty guitar clobbers your ears confirming any suspicions of tinnitus. Again, the vocalist inflicts his lyrics with great force - endless repetitions of “burn this flag” echo around the room accompanied by the front of the crowd throwing themselves around.
Throughout the set is a running voice sample which plays alongside and between each song, giving it a continuous murmur in the background and underpins the punk layers above it. Bad Breeding are definitely a band on their way up, with considerable energy and, as they themselves described, a band of “significant weight”.
Bad Breeding and Kagoule played at The Chameleon on Saturday 9 August 2014.
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